Stomarket Town vs East Thurrock

Welcome back to Greens Meadow everyone. A warm welcome to East Thurrock. Who would have thought the schedule would have been that disjointed since we last played at home for the Wroxham game. Which was our last league game.

None of this could of been helped and Adonis has worked extremely hard trying to plug the gaps so thank you

We have welcomed Dylan Logan into the squad who has signed from Maldon. Dylan is a wide player who can also play centrally. He’s got great feet and is quick.

We have still to reproduce our form from preseason football wise. However grinding out results is what matters. The second season was always going to be difficult and I hope you understand how we need to adapt to teams just not wanting to come and open up. Teams at step 4 will be more organised and easier to break down. My style is not to play long ball and I don’t believe we have. Yes you have to play at a higher point at times to create gaps.

Saturday saw the long trip to Chatham in the FA trophy. Club history was made as this is the furthest the club has ever gone. Credit to the boys and the supporters and staff as this all takes huge effort. I thought first half was very even. Second half we had far better chances and it could have been 3-0. I was pleased with how we stuck to our tactics. Credit to the boys.

One last mention must go to our goal keeper coach Paul Walker. Paul joined us at the start of last season. Since coming in his work ethic and attention to detail has seen Bradders kick onto higher levels. They have a great relationship. Unfortunately Paul has been offered a full time role at Ipswich Town. I did question ITFC or Stow :) however it’s a great opportunity and one we will wish him all the very best with.

Let’s keep the noise and togetherness we have to become the 12th man.

Up the Stow

Muzzy

is a key to a competitive squad. They are a to none. Che likes a fry up and shot on a and kept it going and without them there you.

than ever to keep singing, banging the drum

clarity on.

RESULTS EGM

STOWMARKET TOWN FOOTBALL CLUB

EXTRAORDINARY GENERAL MEETING

A couple of weeks ago Stowmarket Town Football Club and Stowmarket Sports and Social CLub CIC held and Extraordinary General Meeting in order to allow all Board Members and Club Members to have the opportunity to voice their opinions and have the chance to vote on who will take up certain roles within the club and how their club will be taken forward.

I am delighted to inform all of our members that I Kevin Blundell have been voted in unanimously as the new Club Chairperson.

I will be taking over from Neil Sharp who recently stepped down from the position. It is not going to be easy to replace Neil as he has been an integral part of the club for over 40 years but I hope to be able to move forward with the foundations he has placed. I must also take the opportunity to thank both Neil and Shiela for the work they have done for the club over the years, much of it behind the scenes and without which the club would not function. I would also like to thank both Micheal and Delwyn Prentice who have also recently stepped down from their positions at the club.

Some new faces were also voted in at the AGM as below:

Stephen Hobbs in the position as Financial Director

Paul Rudland in the position as Director of Operations and Clubhouse Manager

Doug French in the position as Commercial Director

Barry Roan in the position as Health and Safety Advisor

I am also delighted that Ian Moyes has agreed to continue as the Vice-Chairperson and Nigel Jarvis will also be remaining as the Director of Infrastructure and Projects.

Also discussed at the EGM was the future opportunity for the FANS FORUM group. This is to be organised by the fans and allow all fans to express their opinions, ideas and feedback. These will be taken to the FANS FORUM committee who will be able to bring these points directly to the board for discussion and action where required.

We are all looking forward to progressing the club and teams to the heights that we believe they should be at.

We are always looking for volunteers to help at the club in many different roles, if you have some free time then please get in contact with any of us and we will see where you can help.

CHAIRMAN: KEVIN BLUNDELL

HISTORY OF EAST THURROCK

The idea of forming a senior club to represent the rapidly growing area around Corringham and Stanford-le-Hope gradually evolved from the successful Corringham Social Club Sunday team towards the late 1960’s. On Sunday 27th April 1969 a meeting was held at the Corringham Club, and it was agreed that we should form East Thurrock United FC. A major force in getting the new club off the ground was Brian Fayres, who was to become the “Rocks” first ever team manager. In their inaugural season, 1969-70, the club played in the Southern Essex Combination, with home games being played at Corringham Recreation Ground, and the fledgling Rocks finished third in the table. For the next season the Rocks gained use of the former LATHOL company sports ground in Billet Lane Stanford le Hope, and with the improved facilities there, switched to the Greater London League, playing in their reserve section which in those days was a route into senior football for aspiring intermediate level clubs. 1970-71 saw the Rocks winning their first league title, becoming champions of Greater London reserve division two, and following promotion they became reserve division one champions in 1971-72. The club then gained senior non-league status, but in order to achieve this had to move to groundshare with Grays Athletic. Despite facing considerably stronger opposition, the Rocks went on to finish champions of senior division two of what had become the Metropolitan London League. The Rocks third championship and promotion in successive seasons. So, the 1973-74 season saw the Rocks playing in the top division of the Met-London League, but after making an excellent start with wins over fancied sides Cray Wanderers and Swanley Town, things turned somewhat sour, and they ended the season just avoiding relegation. A period of struggle then followed. The club lost the use of Grays Rec, and had to move back to the very basic, slowly deteriorating, and now council owned Billet Ground.

Pictured here is Ray Gardner scoring for the Rocks at the Billet in the Met-London League game v Canvey Island in December 1974

The club also lost a number of key figures, as it slowly became obvious that finding a site on which to develop a home ground was a much more difficult proposition than had originally been envisaged. At the end of the 1974-75 season the committee proposed at a general meeting that the club be wound up, and only a decisive casting vote from chairman Ted Comer ensured the club survived to fight another day.

During the mid-late seventies, the club consolidated their position as members of the Met-London/London-Spartan League, while off the field the committee continued their search for a site on which to develop a ground. In 1979 the club switched from the London Spartan to the Essex Senior League.

In the early 1980’s the club became interested in a site in Rookery Hill, Corringham. It had been purchased by a Housing Association, but they had subsequently been refused planning permission and had to sell the site. August 1982 saw the club exchanging contracts, and Rookery Hill was theirs. All they had to do then was convert a couple of rough farm and grazing fields into a football ground. After a lot of hard work, the club marked their first ever real home game with a 7-0 win over Coggeshall Town on 25th August 1984.

HISTORY OF EAST THURROCK

However, it was under John Coventry at the Rocks that he was to make his name, smashing the club goalscoring records, and ending his Rocks career in 2019 with 275 club goals.

Action from the first game ever played at Rookery Hill in August 1984. Cliff Banyard scores as Rocks beat Coggeshall Town 7-0

Under manager Roger Bond the Rocks gradually improved their placings in the Essex Senior League, and after going close on two occasions, finally won promotion to the Isthmian League in 1992.

Tommy Lee became the manager for four seasons in the late 1990’s, but a big change took place in 2001 when the club fell into financial difficulties, and local businessman Benny Bennett took control of the club. Under Benny, and new manager Lee Patterson the Rocks moved up the pyramid, making it to the Isthmian Premier in 2005. In late October 2007 Lee was enticed away to manage National League side Braintree, and his assistant John Coventry became the Rocks new manager. Despite suffering relegation from the Isthmian Premier by the narrowest of margins at the end of his first season, under “Covo” the Rocks went on to enjoy the most successful period in their short history to date. In 2009, Covo brought in a young striker named Sam Higgins. “Higgo” was well known to John Coventry, having been part of the Thurrock District Schools team which John had coached. Having been with the Southend United and Millwall youth sides, at 19 years old Sam had already tried his luck with Conference South sides Fisher Athletic and Bishops Stortford.

Under John Coventry the team made club history, reaching the first round proper of the FA Cup on two occasions, won two promotions, enjoyed their best ever FA Trophy run, won their first ever Essex Senior Cup, and enjoyed three brilliant seasons mixing it with the “big boys” of non-league in National South.

Rocks lift the Essex Senior Cup for the first time after beating Chelmsford City 3-1 at Colchester in April 2019.

Sadly, the clubs third season in National South ended in relegation back into the Isthmian Premier. 2019-20 was to be a sad season at Rookery Hill, as firstly much-loved club owner Benny Bennett sadly passed away, and a few months later John Coventry announced that he would be standing down at the end of the season. Then Covid hit, meaning all football at our level was brought to a halt in early March 2020.

Things looked bleak for the club’s future for a while, as most of the off-field management and admin teams also departed the club at the same time as John Coventry. However, the arrival in the spring of 2020 of a new owner in Alfie Best, the founder and chairman of the Thurrock based

HISTORY OF EAST THURROCK

Wyldecrest Parks residential park homes empire, along with a new admin team recruited mostly from supporters and former players, and led from the front by new chairman Steve Wiseman the club kept the show on the road.

Former Romford FC boss Paul Martin was appointed the new team manager, but sadly the club only managed nine league games before the second covid wave caused another lockdown, bringing a second

successive season to a premature conclusion.

2021-22 saw football returning to something like normality, but also ended in relegation with the Rocks, returning to Isthmian North for the first time in eleven years. November 2021 saw manager Paul Martin standing down after a run of heavy defeats, and he was replaced by the former Tilbury FC management team of Marc Harrison and Liam Wallace.

JAMES

TEVAN

JACK

Stowmarket Community Sports & Social Club CIC was formed in 2009 with the aim to create a community club, driven by football, that builds better facilities for the good of Stowmarket.

Our mission statement focuses on five key principles:

• Community

• Equality

• Participants

• Trust and Respect Integrity and Fair Play

The CIC’s aim is to bring the community to Greens Meadow. To achieve this, our three main objectives are to:

• Improve the clubhouse facilities

• Improve the performances on the pitch

• Change the age demographic of the club to rejuvenate local interest

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